I Think I Want to Marry You
by Asking Me Where My Love Grows
Summary: "It'll get better before you're married." / Or, Jake proposes to Clare at the playground. Cake. Little!Clare and Little!Jake.


**a/n:** LOL, I don't even like Cake.

This was fun to write, though. Little!Clare and Little!Jake are totally adorbs. c;

I hope you like it even if the ending is crappy.

**disclaimer time: **I don't own Degrassi because my mom refuses to buy me it for Christmas. I'm so deprived.

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><p>Sometimes – rarely – Clare's mom would take her to the park.<p>

She loved sliding down the slides and swinging on swings, feeling the wind whip her auburn curls around her tiny freckled face.

The park was her favorite place in the entire universe. Well, at least it was when _Jake Martin _wasn't there.

Jake Martin lived across the road from Clare in the big brick house and he had a big dog that Clare thought was really scary. Sometimes Jake would come over and he'd throw frogs at her even though her mom told him not to. She doesn't think throwing frogs at your neighbor is a particularly nice thing to do but she never told her mom. Jake says that if she told she'd be a tattletale and she didn't know what that was but she knows that she didn't want to be one.

Since Clare's mom really didn't like her playing at the park by herself she asked Jake to play with her a lot. Usually Jake was too busy playing with his friends or doing other big boy things but sometimes he'd say yes and then Clare would get sad.

Fun! Another day of getting slimy amphibians thrown at her face!

Clare sat in the sandbox as she watched Jake play with some other girl. They were playing tag and he was smiling real big at her. Jake had a really pretty smile. Clare kind of wished that Jake would smile at her but all he ever does is scowl when she's around. Why doesn't Jake like her like he likes that girl?

The pretty girl that Jake was talking to must have felt Clare's stare or something because she turned to look at her, a smile taking up half her face. Jake followed her gaze and glared when he saw it was Clare. What a meany!

"Hey you!" The girl shouted, "You look sad. Do you wanna play tag with us?"

Clare nodded eagerly, "I love tag!"

"Are you sure you want her to play with us?" Jake asked, "She's a whole entire year younger!"

"Age is just a number, silly." The girl said, skipping towards Clare and extending her hand. Clare looked from the girl's grinning face to her outstretched palm. What if she was like Jake? What if she would just push her down and throw frogs at her face?

"I don't bite, you know."

Clare took the girl's hand.

"I'm Marisol." She said, "Do you wanna be friends?"

Jake groaned.

Clare shook her head shyly, "I don't have many friends."

"Really? But you're so pretty!" Marisol giggled.

"Can we get back to the game?" Jake asked impatiently but his cheeks were red. Clare wondered why.

"Not it!" Marisol shouted.

"Not it!" Jake said a second after.

"Darn it." Clare pouted, watching as her new friend and her mean neighbor ran away from her as fast as their little legs could carry them. She was terrible at running! It didn't help much that she was wearing one of her dresses and sandals. She kicked off her shoes and raced after Jake, hoping that she wouldn't fall and get mud all over her outfit because than her mom would get mad.

What do you think happened next? Clare tripped over a disregarded toy, face planting into the blacktop.

Her tights were ripped at her knees where there were now bloody brush burns and she had a big scratch across her forehead. She whimpered a little bit, and then she started to cry.

Jake kept running until he realized that Clare wasn't chasing him anymore. He slowed to a stop, turning around to see a little sobbing figure on the blacktop.

"C-Clare...?" Jake stuttered. Maybe he didn't like her that much but he knew that no one should ever cry that hard. "Are you okay?"

He wasn't sure where Marisol was right now but he really didn't care. All he knew was that he just really wanted Clare to stop crying.

"Jake! It hurts!" Clare sobbed, rubbing her knees. Jake saw the blood on her palms and gasped, not even knowing he was by her side until he was soothingly rubbing her back.

Jake made her sit down on her butt so he could see her knees. They looked bad! Maybe she'd have to go to the hospital? Maybe she'd die? He doesn't want Clare to die!

Clare keeps crying so Jake did what his mom always did when he cried.. He hugged her. He could feel her stiffen in his arms, a little gasp leaving her lips. Jake was... hugging her? It felt kind of nice.

"It's gonna be okay, Clare." Jake whispered in her ear, "Do you wanna hear what my daddy always says when I'm sad?"

"What?" Clare asked quietly, sniffling.

"It'll get better before you're married."

"But what if I never get married?" Clare whispered.

Jake gasped, "Of course you'll get married! Everyone gets married!"

"Who would ever want to marry me?" A tear rolled down Clare's cheek and Jake raised a thumb to wipe it off.

"Well... I'd marry you."

Clare looked shocked, "I thought that you'd want to marry someone prettier. Someone like Marisol."

"Marisol is my friend and marrying her would be gross. Marrying you wouldn't be so bad."

"Promise?" Clare asked, extending her pinky.

"Promise what?"

"Promise that you'll marry me!"

"Oh. Yeah, I promise." Jake said, wrapping his pinky around hers.


End file.
